Clarence Thomas is facing a retirement decision that has all hell breaking loose
Donald Trump is now the President-elect.
Trump will face major decisions about governing and how to run the government.
And now Clarence Thomas is facing a retirement decision that has all hell breaking loose.
Donald Trump’s chance to remake the Supreme Court
With Donald Trump heading back to the White House and Republicans winning at least a 52-seat majority in the Senate the GOP can confirm whatever judges conservatives want.
52 Senate seats means pro-abortion RINO Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine can’t sink a conservative nominee since even if they vote no, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance can cast a tie-breaking vote.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are the two oldest justices on the Supreme Court.
Thomas and Alito are also the two most stalwart conservative justices.
Now that Trump and the GOP face zero obstacles to judicial nominations an immediate discussion about the possibility of Justices Thomas and Alito both retiring before the 2026 midterms since the GOP is only guaranteed to hold a Senate majority up until that December.
With Alito and Thomas likely retiring in the next two years, Trump will be the first president since FDR to have nominated a majority of justices on the Court, joining Washington, Lincoln, Taft as the only presidents to do so.
— Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) November 6, 2024
What comes next
If Thomas and Alito retire Trump would have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court picks meaning he would have appointed five of the nine justices.
That would make Trump the first President since FDR to nominate a majority of the Supreme Court.
Replacing Thomas and Alito with presumably younger conservatives in their mid to late 40s means conservatives would have five justices on the bench under the age of 60.
Trump could cement a conservative majority that would stand into the early 2050s.
Conservatives have been burned by judicial picks before.
John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and John Roberts all moved left once Republican Presidents named them to the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump would have more confidence from the base in picking Alito and Thomas’ replacements.
That’s because Trump’s picks cast the deciding votes on the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Trump faced a similar decision in his first term when Trump needed to pick a successor to conservative icon the late Antonin Scalia and settled on Neil Gorsuch, a choice that pleased conservatives.
Picking the replacements for Thomas and Alito are high stakes choices since there is zero room for mistakes.
Another Souter or O’Connor replacing Thomas and Alito could have the Democrats a majority on major cases as Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett are always eager for consensus and to cut deals with the left.
